New York Times, Wednesday, September 6, 2017

This theme lingered a while because it wasn't so easy for me to find words that turn into other words when you add a 'y' sound after the first letter... and then also to find phrases that worked after that change. I'm delighted that I did find four nice phrases, because I think this is one of my better puzzles. To me, this puzzle mainly stands out because of its pretty grid design. There are only eight short, outer lines and two central curves, making it look artistic in its simplicity. I'm also proud of the general quality of the puzzle, though I would've liked the longer fill to be more exciting.

The clues weren't changed too much, so I guess that's a good thing! I do appreciate the changes, though; solid work, Will and team! I'm happy to be the first to clue ROBYN as the Swedish singer, whose music I really enjoy. I'm also happy to be the first to clue IM PEI in a new way, as he has now reached the status of centenarian.

I think all of my theme answers and clues are quite cute, and I'm particularly happy that BEAUTY CALL made it through, as BOOTY CALL is a bit risqué and has yet to appear. Fun to push the boundaries a bit!

I'm not sure how to describe today's sound change theme. FORD to FJORD, BOOTY to BEAUTY, FOOD to FEUD, COUP to QUEUE … the last three are all "ooh" to "eew," nice and consistent. That first one though — FORD doesn't have the "ooh" sound, nor does FJORD match the "eew" pattern. I spent a long time trying to figure out if there was perhaps another way these all connected, i.e., a consistent spelling change, or letter substitution? Alas, no.

Or was there! I was complaining to Jim about the one inconsistent themer, and he asked why adding a Y sound was inconsistent in FORD to FJORD. D'oh! I'm curious how many other people biffed on comprehending the theme concept.

FINGER FEUD was a winning themer for me, evoking a funny image. BEAUTY CALL was a so-so resulting phrase, but I enjoyed getting the base phrase of BOOTY CALL in my crossword. Love it; in total agreement with Dani.

MILITARY QUEUE felt too much like a real thing — aren't there a lot of lines in the military? — and I've seen FJORD EXPLORER in different crossword contexts. So these two didn't do much for me.

I enjoyed the bonuses Dani worked in, LION TAMERS, AGGREGATOR, MACUSER looking like a fun Scottish name, and even BIG IF and DOG IT. Unusual for me to notice short fill in a good way!

A couple of EVAS, URB, EZIO (perhaps he's more familiar to an older generation?) dabs of crossword glue, but nothing egregious. Pretty well-executed grid. I think EVAS could have been removed fairly easily, though — I'm almost sure there are better options in that mostly unconstrained corner. (I know, I'm so nit-picky!)

Big ups for the EDIT clue. It's hard to make a short entry interesting, but the clever wordplay in "Paraphrase" to "Pare a phrase?" is brilliant.

After having the theme explained to me, I liked the concept. Pretty neat that all the Y-sound-additions were done with different spelling changes! But alas, the cleverness went over my head.